


The Girl in 25D

by whoneedsapublisher



Series: Halloween prompt week 2020 [3]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Turned Into a Ghost, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:14:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsapublisher/pseuds/whoneedsapublisher
Summary: When Kotori's high school decided to shut down, her and her friends tried to stop it. But when they couldn't, Kotori decided it was time to commit to studying abroad. Once in France, though, she found that her apartment for one came with a little extra that hadn't been listed on the lease...
Relationships: Minami Kotori/Yazawa Nico
Series: Halloween prompt week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987144
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Love Live Halloween Prompt Week 2020





	The Girl in 25D

**Author's Note:**

> Day three of prompt week: "Haunting"

For the most part, Kotori’s life had been, if not necessarily  _ ordinary _ , at least… plausible.

She’d grown up with her two childhood friends, Honoka and Umi, and they’d gone to school together up through highschool. In highschool, though, the school they all attended announced that it was shutting down. Honoka had been devastated, and had tried everything she could to stop it shutting down. First an idol group, then an online campaign, and even trying to learn how to fly a plane to do skywriting. None of them had worked, of course. With just the three of them, they couldn’t do much. Kotori had helped where she could, but in the end, the school’s decision had been final.

Kotori could have stayed there for the last year- they did say that they’d let all current students finish their education before closing- but she decided to take the chance to study abroad. After all, it would help a lot in chasing her future career.

And… there was another reason, too.

Sometimes, when Kotori looked in the mirror, she wasn’t sure who was looking back at her. It sounded melodramatic, but sometimes, when she was alone, and it was quiet, she started to question who she was without Honoka and Umi around. It was why she’d found a part time job without telling them- she wanted some part of herself that wasn’t part of the three of them, something that was _her_ and her alone. And she’d liked that. Studying abroad really was the best choice for her career, but it also meant getting to live on her own. And once she’d had a year of that, she’d come back to Honoka and Umi and feel like she could be on the same level of them. To be Kotori, Honoka, and Umi, not “Honoka and Umi” plus Kotori

Honoka had been heartbroken of course. Umi had been sad as well, but she was much more stoic about it. She probably understood Kotori’s choice more than Honoka, even beyond her normal more composed nature. But neither of them begged her not to go. They wished she wouldn’t but they accepted it. Kotori was glad. She wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to leave if Honoka had really begged her to stay.

Being alone in a strange country was hard, but it was exhilarating as well.

There was just one problem.

And that was when her life had gotten significantly less ordinary, and a whole lot less plausible.

* * *

“Here’s your room, miss.”

“Sank you,” Kotori said. So far, her knowledge of french had held up well enough to communicate, but by the looks she kept getting, she was pretty sure that she wasn’t exactly passing for fluent, and she did have keep asking for people to explain what they meant when they used words she hadn’t heard before. Still, at least she wasn’t having to helplessly try to communicate only in Japanese.

Nonetheless, it was a relief to be able to lock her door, drop her suitcase, and flop down on the bed, without being expected to try to struggle through a conversation she only half understood, clumsily trying to get across her meaning with a handful of words that she was probably slurring like a drunken toddler.

“Oh great, another new person…”

Kotori sat up in surprise, whirling around to see the source of the sudden burst of Japanese… and then froze in place.

Sticking out of her bed was the head of a girl with glittering red eyes and black hair pulled up into twintails.

And  _ only  _ the head.

Kotori shrieked.

There was a thudding on the stairs, and then Kotori heard the voice of the apartment manager on the other side of her door. “Miss! Are you alright?”

Kotori rushed to the door and threw it open, pointing at the head in terror. “Head! On bed! There’s… head!”

The owner looked at the bed, and then slowly turned and looked at her skeptically.

“...You must be tired from the trip,” he said. “It must have been &^*&£^, right?”

“Must have been… what?” Kotori said, blinking at the unfamiliar word.

“Oh. Ah, it must have worn you out, I mean,” the man said. “There’s nothing there.”

Kotori stared at him in disbelief. He stared back.

“...Right,” Kotori said. “I must… just be tired. Um. Sorry.”

The man nodded and started to head back down the stairs. Kotori closed the door, not looking behind her. She must just be seeing things. It _had_ been a long flight…

“Wow. You gave up on that easily. What are you, some kind of pushover or something?”

Kotori turned around to see that the head had the rest of her body now, and was floating over the bed, her arms crossed.

“...You’re not here,” Kotori said, closing her eyes. “I’m just imagining things.”

“Nope,” the girl said.

Kotori opened her eyes and frowned. “Why can only I see you?” she demanded.

“...Why indeed,” the girl said, suddenly averting her gaze.

Kotori paused for a moment.

“No, wait,” she said. “You’re not acting like I’m the only person who’s been able to see you.”

“I-I just don’t get all excited over stuff like that!” the girl said hurriedly, still not meeting Kotori’s eyes.

“...You’re a really bad liar.” Honestly, she was as bad as Honoka…

“Ugh, fine,” the girl said. “Look. The owner can see me just fine. But he pretends like he can’t so that he can claim there’s nothing wrong with this place and not refund the deposit if whoever’s renting it runs away.”

“What?” Kotori said, affronted. “That’s terrible!”

“Tell me about it,” the girl said, floating down a little. “I didn’t want to spend my afterlife being part of a rent collecting scam.”

“Then why are you doing it?” Kotori asked. “Why not just hide or something?”

“Because the owner threatened to exorcise me,” the girl said.

“Can he do that?”

“I don’t know,” she said, scowling. “But he says he knows a priest…”

She looked down and clenched her fist. “...I can’t move on. Not yet. Even if I have to play along with this.”

There was a quiet determination in her, a stubborn devotion that make her seem a little less ethereal. Kotori couldn’t begin to imagine her circumstances. How did a Japanese girl her age end up haunting a French apartment? And what made her cling to her undeath so desperately?

There was only one thing it could be. This girl had a dream. And she was willing to fight for it.

Kotori took a deep breath.

“...You have to look the other way when I’m changing,” she said.

“What?”

“And you’re not allowed to start floating through walls or anything when I’m in the shower!” Kotori said.

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t like driving people out, right?” Kotori said. “And I don’t want to find a new place.”

The girl looked at her incredulously. “...You’d really stay in the same room as a ghost?” she asked.

“Maybe,” Kotori said. “If she follows my rules.”

The stared at her for a moment longer, and then sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “You _are_ crazy,” she said. “Fine. It’s not like I need a lot of space.”

Kotori extended her hand. “My name’s Kotori,” she said.

The ghost looked at her like she was an idiot.

“...What?” Kotori said.

As if to demonstrate, the ghost waved her hand through Kotori’s. A chill rippled across Kotori’s skin as the ghostly hand passed through her.

“Oh.”

“...My name’s Nico,” the ghost said. “Nico Yazawa.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Nico.” Kotori said.

“...Yeah, of course you wouldn’t recognise it…” Nico muttered.

“What?” Kotori asked.

“Nothing,” Nico said. “Welcome home, I guess.”

With that, she vanished back under the floor, and Kotori lay back down on the bed and let out a sigh.

This year was going to be a very strange one indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> This might be continued at a later date, but for now it's complete as-is.


End file.
